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THE Weirdest Present Ever Given – Cow Dung

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Yep, you read that right.  Cow Dung, the smelliest, shittiest, dirtiest … in all its natural glory.  50 years old he is so ever grateful to his aunt that he has even written a book called “Strange Cures” that describes the event.

For many, when they think about vacation, they envision going to the fair, going to the casino or maybe even relaxing on the beach and going online to Fair Go Casino.

And visiting a cow pasture filled with warm fresh cow dung does not usually make it to the top of the list of “Favorite things to do while on vacation” … actually, I doubt it would even make it to the bottom of the list.

But alas, that was 12-year old Rob Zabrecky’s daily vacation excursion in that memorable summer vacation.

Rob Zabrecky’s Story

The following was Rob’s experience.

When Rob went on vacation to visit his aunt in Scotland, he had 47 warts on his hands.  His parents had already spent over $800 visiting various doctors trying to get rid of them.

“You just dip your hands deep into the cow dung and let them soak there for a few moments. Let that dung set for 20 or so minutes and rinse it away. You’ll need to do this each day for a fortnight and those warts will vanish. I promise you, laddie”, Rob recalls his aunt telling him.

Rob did as his aunt instructed, and by the time he went home his warts were already disappearing and by the time school began, they were completely gone.

Warts are frustrating to deal with.  You read the stories online and people have had warts for years.  If nothing is done, it can take 1 – 2 years for warts to go away naturally.  Even with treatment, on average it can take around 2- 3 months for warts to clear up.

About a week ago, we discovered a plantar’s wart on the bottom of my 6 years old’s foot.  These are bad, because not only are you dealing with the wart, you also have to deal with the callus that formed on top of the wart to “protect” the wart.  In the case of plantar’s warts, instead of the growing outward (as it usually does on the hands), the wart grows inwards. This makes walking painful.

I went to the doctor, who prescribed salicylic acid.  It was in what looked like a nail polish bottle, including what looked like a nail polish brush.  3 times a day, we put the salicylic acid on my son’s foot and then put on a regular bandage on the area to prevent the wart from spreading.  Warts can be contagious if you touch a wart and then touch another part of your body. So keeping the wart covered is very important.

After three days of using this stuff, I was not noticing any changes.

I was not too fond of the prospect of dealing with this 3 times a day for 12 weeks.

I kept thinking about  Rob Zabrecky’s story about his warts and his aunt’s cow dung cure.  I live in a city, so finding fresh warm cow dung was not an option. But how did the cow dung work?

Why did the cow dung work to get rid of warts?

Hypothesis 1: Lack of oxygen

Did soaking warts in cow dung for 10 minutes create an environment that lacked oxygen?

Duct tape theory seems to follow this reasoning.  Dr. Focht studied 51 pediatric patients. Half had their warts removed with cryotherapy (freezing the wart off), and the other half had duct tape put on their warts.  The parents were told to leave the duct tape on for 6 days and to replace it if it falls off. Between duct tape treatments, the area was left uncovered for 12 hours. The parents repeated this method for two to three months.   85% of the duct tape patients were wart free compared to only 60% of the cryotherapy patients.

Dr. Frank Bures claims that you cannot suffocate a wart, because it is gettings its oxygen from the inside of the body.

I am not sure that I would agree with that view.  I am not a doctor, but if the virus could survive completely from inside the body (without outside air), why doesn’t the wart just take up residence inside the body?   Wouldn’t the wart be more protected inside the body rather than on the surface of the body?

Plus, if the red blood cells were reaching inside the wart, why wouldn’t our white blood cells, which travel in the same path as red blood cells, attack the wart?  Why does a “normal” virus (like a cold) take 10 days to “go away”, but a wart takes 1 – 2 years to go away.

Hypothesis 2: Hostile environment

Cow dung is a hostile environment.  Just like we don’t have any desire to take up residence next to cow dung, maybe wart viruses feel the same way.

Several companies sell bandages that are specifically designed for wart removal.  First, they have extra cushion around the wart medicine (the pad area of the bandage).  A circular disk is in the center of the bandage. This disc contains the medicine, salicylic acid.

The advantage of the disc bandage method over the brush method is that the pad is soaked with salicylic acid.  The whole time that the bandage is on top of the wart, the wart is being constantly exposed to the salicylic acid.  In other words, it is creating a continuous hostile environment for the wart virus.

Hypothesis 3: Warmth

Rob’s aunt specifically said to use warm fresh cow dung.  Read any wart removal package and the instructions will tell you to soak the area with warm water for 5 – 10 minutes before applying the bandage.

No matter what treatment you choose, don’t leave out this important step.

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Hypothesis 4: Anti-bacterial / anti-viral properties

All poop has some level of white blood cells in it even if you are not displaying “sick symptoms”.

Do you remember the story of how the smallpox vaccine was invented?  A doctor noticed that girls who milked cows that had cowpox were naturally immune to the smallpox virus.  So the first smallpox vaccines were injecting the patient with cowpox to help the body learn how to fight smallpox.

Did the poop contain white blood cells that could help the body to fight a wart virus?  I am just speculating at this point, and I am definitely NOT a doctor. Although in 1969, a physician named Jerome Litt found that meat handlers had a greater incidence of hand warts than the general population.  Could there be white blood cells in the cow dung that already knows how to fight off warts?

This got me thinking to when my son was a small child (1 – 2 years old) and he had very bad eczema due to food allergies.  His pediatrician recommended, in addition to the medicine she prescribed, I was supposed to take a half a bag of dried honeysuckle flowers and boil them into a pot to create a tea.  Then she told me to put this tea water into his bathwater, and place my son into the warm honeysuckle tea filled bathwater.

Honeysuckle flowers have natural anti-bacterial / anti-viral properties in them.   For my son’s eczema, the combination of the honeysuckle baths and the medicine worked, as nothing else worked.

So if it worked so well for my son’s treatment of his eczema, I decided to add honeysuckle soaks to my son’s treatment of his plantar’s wart.  Since the honeysuckle warm water soaks seem to work best in combination with other treatments, it is hard to say how much the honeysuckle warm water baths themselves are adding to the treatment.

Where we are today

I wish I could write that my son’s wart problems are in the past, but they are not.  We already did 8 days of the wart bandages. The callous that was protecting the wart is gone.  A good first step, but the actual wart is still there.

We are starting the next round of wart bandage treatments.  Now that the callous is gone, I am really hoping that during this round, the actual wart will be taken care of.

I will try to remember to write an update to this article in a week to give another update.

Hoping for a successful week.

Moral of the story

Next time you go on vacation to visit your aunt, don’t discount your aunt’s whacked-out wart cure of sticking your hands into cow dung for 4 nights in a row.  She just might know what she is talking about.

Cole is one half of New Zealand's leading adventure travel blogging couple who have been wearing out their jandals around the world since 2009. He loves any adventure activities and anything to do with the water whether it is Surfing, Diving, Swimming, Snorkeling or just lounging nearby on the beach. You can follow Cole on Google+. Or consider following us via RSS Feed, Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our Newsletter.

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Health

Why Do People Appreciate Nicotine Pouches?

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‘Smoking is hazardous and injurious to your health!’ This is a standard warning you can see printed on many tobacco-related products, specifically cigarette cartons.

Certainly, smoking is one of the worst habits most people are addicted to. There are several adverse effects of smoking on the circulatory system, respiratory system, skin, eyes, and reproductive system.

In order to get rid of the addiction to smoking and other issues, special nicotine pouches are introduced.

These pouches are the greatest and safest alternatives to cigarettes.

They contain a proportionate quantity of snus with nicotine as the main ingredients and offer the same satisfaction that smoking provides. You can learn more about these aspects at resources such as http://nicotinepouches.org/us/how-to-use-nicotine-pouches/, as such you can take advantage of these pouches and improve your overall lifestyle. If you still want to know what nicotine pouches are and why people love them, learn more by reading further.

What are Nicotine Pouches?

Nicotine pouches are an excellent alternative for smoking cigarettes and tobacco. These pouches do not contain tobacco, but either synthetic nicotine or tobacco-derived nicotine that are as same as a tobacco-free version of snus.

You can keep it under your lower lips and enjoy the flavor dissolved in your mouth. When finished, you can dispose of the pouch in household trash.

The substance won’t come outside the pouch as the white cover is made of high-quality material. Now, the best part is, it won’t stain your teeth.

Reasons People Love Nicotine Pouches

Well, there are several reasons why people are just in love with nicotine pouches. For instance, you can find different flavors, it may not have an expiration date, and it allows you to maintain oral health. Besides these fine aspects, you can find more reasons why people prefer these pouches.

Smoke-free

Tobacco smoke is one of the primary reasons people switch to nicotine pouches. It will help you, and it will minimize smoking in public. Nobody near you will have to worry about potential issues from smells and other issues when you use it.

It Does not Stain Your Teeth

This is another reason why people love nicotine pouches, as it does not stain your teeth. If you fear that keeping it under your lower lip can stain your teeth, you are far from correct.

Did you know that the white coating on the substance prevents your teeth from staining?

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It Helps you Maintain Oral Health

Smoking cigarettes can stain your teeth as well as your lips. But with nicotine pouches, you can maintain your oral health as they will not only help you avoid smoking habits but also help you recover your damaged cells simultaneously.

You Can Enjoy Several Flavors

Nicotine pouches are available in a wide range of flavors. You can choose from many flavors that can improve your life. Indeed, there are many that choose to move forward with these pouches because they are varied and can add immense value overall.

Many People Choose Nicotine Pouches over Smoking

There are numerous reasons to choose nicotine pouches over smoking. One of the most important reasons is the overall health impact. After years of research on side effects, many countries are starting to endorse its use.

These are indeed the safest alternatives for those who are looking for ways to quit smoking. Since these pouches release nicotine that one can find in tobacco, it is less addictive or harmful than smoking or chewing.

This is just a brief summary as there are many benefits to these pouches.

Always remember to be responsible and enjoy!

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Health

Age Well Each Day By Living Well

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We must take life seriously because we only have a finite amount of time on this planet.

Indeed, we know not what happens after we live on this planet for seventy or more years. We only know that we have a certain amount of todays and tomorrows. But furthermore, we know that our energy can begin to dissipate as we get older.

That places even more pressure on us as we seek to gain the most out of life in our younger days and have the opportunity for later when we are older and quite possibly weaker. While a good portion of individuals may require care from prominent companies such as https://spectrumhealthcare.com/services/seniors-for-seniors/drop-in-companions/

As we grow older, the sobering truth is that we may not have the energy or strength to engage in activities such as the hunt for hogs, geese, or even deer and larger game.

We must live, eat, and exercise well each day, from hunting activities to other, more demanding activities. We need to ensure a great life to hunt or do other, more strenuous activities regularly without concern for our age and health level.

But how do we ensure that we are living a great life? Let’s look at what it means to live an extraordinary life each day.

Take Action

The truth is that nothing changes unless you improve your mind and start taking action each day. If you are an object in motion you are likely to gain steam and momentum that helps to carry you into the next day. Remember that being present on this earth does not mean that you are living. It simply means that you merely exist on this plant. Now, existing is totally different from living. Your household plant exists but can’t live as you might have.

Those who live will engage with life, set goals, have desires, take action, and utilize resources.

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Engage with Others

Once you have a specific set of values, goals, and desires, you can engage with others in a more meaningful way. For instance, if you have a particular compass, then you can make a difference and relate to others in a specific way that opens up insights and lets you live a better life.

You can say no to loneliness and increase your mental acuity by staying sharp and speaking with others to remain interesting and intriguing. You want to continue to engage with others so that you do not go too introverted and take on feelings of sadness, pity, and depression.

Remember that increasing companionship and engaging with others increases your overall quality of life.

Live Deliberately

Prominent investors will say that you should live deliberately in life. That means that you are thinking about what your future will be like, and you are doing what you can each day to improve your lot.

You can practice meditation, walking, regular exercise, and practice good eating habits to live a better life in the present and the future.

Remember that doing more is not easy, but it can make a substantial difference in your life and help you get to a better destination.

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Health

Sun, Sea and Suffering – Why Accidents Happen on Holiday

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Saving up all year for your annual holiday or for a weekend away is certainly worth it when you get to enjoy some much needed time off. Time away from responsibilities, from schedules, from your boss and colleagues and an opportunity to make as many memories as possible.

However, in our pursuit of rest and relaxation, many holidaymakers find themselves visiting the emergency room and getting caught up in all kinds of accidents – if you’ve had a car accident in Fort Lauderdale, click the link. This kind of scenario can leave us red-faced, heading home feeling stressed, tired and wishing we’d never left the safety of our comfort zone in the first place.

However, it is possible to have a perfectly safe, accident-free holiday. All you need to do is make yourself aware of the most common holiday mishaps and accidents out there. Read on to find out more.

Road traffic accidents

Driving in unfamiliar territory can be a recipe for disaster. Especially if you don’t plan ahead or don’t adapt your driving style. Conducting plenty of research about the roads at your destination will help keep you safe.

Sunburn and heatstroke

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We all love getting some sun whilst we’re on holiday. It makes us feel good, tops up our tan and just makes us feel healthier. However, there’s a fine line between enjoying the sun, and getting damaged from it. Too much sun and little protection means sunburn, which is incredibly painful and could increase your chances of developing skin cancer. Heatstroke can leave you dehydrated, with a migraine and incredibly ill. In many cases it requires hospitalisation. Make sure you’re adequately protected when you’re in the sun.

Slips and trips

Slipping by the pool or in the hotel foyer, tripping over a sun-lounger or slipping off the kerb in the local market. Slips and trips are commonplace abroad. So, you need to be vigilant. The last thing you want is to return home with a broken leg!

Food poisoning

We all like to indulge when we’re on holiday. But whether you want to experience local, authentic food or stick to what you know and love, food poisoning is a risk all holidaymakers take. Ensure you’re only eating at reputable and highly recommended eateries and be wary of vendors not following food hygiene practices.

Activity related accidents

Snowboarding, skiing, water sports, even swimming and scuba-diving. All these accidents are common overseas and the injuries may be catastrophic. Ensure that any activities you sign up to are overseen by trained experts.

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Meet Cole and Adela

Cole and AdelaWe have been wearing out our jandals (Kiwi for flip-flops) on our travel adventures around the world since 2009. We think our blog is thought provoking and a little witty. But we have been proven wrong before. Find out more about us here...

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